Salvation Army Wraps Up Christmas Event

Needy families will stop by the Salvation Army Kroc Center in San Diego today to wrap up a two-day Christmas event helping an estimated 1,500 children celebrate the season.

The center's 15,000-square-foot indoor skate park was transformed for the event into the "Toy & Joy Gift Shop" stocked with toys and food, according to Maria Todaro, director of communication and community development for the Rolando-area charity.

The event kicked off Saturday and will conclude today, she said, noting parents who signed up in advance will walk through the "shop" and pick out two gifts and a stocking stuffer that they can present to their children Christmas morning. The more than 800 families participating across the two days will also receive food for the holiday.

Salvation Army sites in Chula Vista, El Cajon, downtown, Clairemont, Escondido and Oceanside are also distributing toys to the needy. In all, more than 5,200 families and more than 15,000 children in San Diego County will receive gifts from the Salvation Army this year, Todaro said.

The toys and food being distributed were either donated by the public or purchased using money collected by the Salvation Army's Red Kettle program.

-- City News Service